New H100i Platinum install - firmware upgrade seems to have broken it.

OK, So spent the last 2 days very carefully upgrading my old H100i non RGB cooler to the funky new H100i RGB Platinum. Also added 2 x ML140 RGB fans, the Fan Hub that came with the ML-140 kit as well as a Commander Pro purchased separately.

 

Initial power up after the install seemed perfect. Pump head RGB was doing its default spiral RGB pattern; The supplied ML-120 fans with the cooler also colouring in sync and the extra 2 ML-140s also colouring in sync. All good so far.

 

Noted down all the key metrics, pump speed etc, all perfectly OK for a minimally specced system like mine.

 

Downloaded iCue (v3.14.104) and once it installed it immediately wanted to upgrade the H100i firmware to v1.00.33. I let it do that. During the install the RGB colours on all the fans went off and the fans spun up to max speed. "That's OK", I thought, that's just part of the system losing touch during the upgrade. All will be well afterwards.

 

Sadly, it is still afterwards and all is not OK. Still no sign of any colours of any description from any of the 4 fans. They spin perfectly well, but just no RGB.

 

I have tried selecting different lighting patterns in iCue, but none make any difference. Just checked the pump head now and its lights are all off now too.

 

From a connectivity point of view, here's what I've done:

H100i - USB connected to 1 USB port on CoPro

- 2 supplied ML-120 fans - PWR via headers on H100i

- 2 Supplied ML-120 fans - RGB to RGB Fan Hub (ports 2 and 3)

- SATA power connected to HX1000i PSU (also new as part of this)

ML-140 Rear fan - PWR connected to Co Pro FAN (port 1)

- RGB connected to FAN Hub (port 1)

ML-140 Front fan - PWR connected to Co Pro FAN (port 2)

- RGB connected to Fan Hub (port 4)

RGB Fan Hub - RGB connected to LED port 1 on Co Pro

- STA power connected

HX1000i PSU - USB connection to USB port 2 on Co Pro

Co Pro - USB connected to NXT internal USB Hub (poer to that connected to PSU as well)

- SATA power connected to same SATA cable as RGB Hub and H100i pump. (can potentially move one or both of these to dedicated cables if need be)

 

I'm pretty sure the connections are all OK as when it first powered up everything worked perfectly. The only thing that has changed is the firmware upgrade to the H100i, that's when the colours went away.

 

Have also upgraded iCue software from 3.14.104 (downloaded from web site) to 3.15.101 (what the software wanted to upgrade to when I asked it to go look for a later version)

 

Also, just noticed that the LED on the HX1000i PSU is flashing red / green. Uncertain what this means (if anything).

OK, So after rebooting and poking around in iCue I have managed to get the lights back.

 

What I stumbled across was in the "Lighting Setup" Section under the CoPro device in iCue, it seemed to have forgotten about the RGB Hub. It reported no lighting devices connected.

 

So Under "Lighting Channel 1" I told it that there were a series of ML-RGB fans connected. Then in the next drop down I told it there were 4 Fans connected and now the colour is back in my life. !!!

 

Word to the wise Corsair, it might be prudent to save these settings before a firmware upgrade and then restore them again afterwards as part of the firmware upgrade. It's not really realistic to expect us to have to set everything up from scratch again after a firmware upgrade. What that will mean is that we will be reluctant to ensure our firmware is up to date because we won't want to go through the hassle of setting everything up again afterwards and that in turn will make it more difficult for you to help us in later support cases !

 

In my case it was easy as this is a completely fresh install and so I have lost nothing, but I will now make a note to save my custom settings often (which is also good practice!!)

Edited April 27, 2019 by Salsiccia

That's not supposed to happen and it seems something went askew during the process. Unfortunately, there is always a chance of that on a firmware upgrade. You're right, the disconnect during the initial process is expected, but not the reset. At least you found your way to lighting set-up and corrected it. Most people don't find that the panel at all and it is one of the first things to check if you run into a "lights out" issue along, with the actual color/lighting application to the fan. It's possible the Platinum coolers are more prone to that consequence if using the onboard lighting controller (versus an external LNP or Commander Pro) and they may share a power pathway that must be reset during the firmware load.

Thanks c-attack - its good to know that my experience wasn't normal.

Firmware upgrades can be problematic so I totally get what happened, and hopefully this was just "one of those things" !! It got fixed so all good now.

 

As I said, no huge drama from my point of view, as a brand new upgrade luckily I hadn't invested significant time in customisations as I know many on here have, and I'm quite sure I will too now !!

 

I must say, as this is my first step into the RGB pool, it is very impressive and I am a fan of the Corsair ecosystem and for me, so far, the experience has been very good. I have been following the threads around the constant USB disconnects and I was wary of whether or not that would hit me, but I am happy to say that I seem to be totally immune to it so far and that's good. Hopefully the latest patch to iCue will fix it for everybody else too.

 

I now need to buy an ML-120 fan to fill a hole at the front of my case now - will go for the 3 pack to give me some expansion options moving forward.

It's possible the Platinum coolers are more prone to that consequence if using the onboard lighting controller (versus an external LNP or Commander Pro) and they may share a power pathway that must be reset during the firmware load.

 

Minor point, but I am using a Commander Pro as my lighting controller. RGB connections from the H100i go to an LED Hub which in turn is connected to LED port 1 on the Co Pro. My 2 other ML-140 fans also have RGB connections to that same RGB hub.

So you are not using the RGB fan connectors on the Platinum cooler? That is interesting. Rebooting the cooler should have no effect on C-Pro or its RGB Lighting Hub.

No, I'm not using the RGB connections on the cooler, I'm running them to the RGB Hub. (I thought I read somewhere here that that was a better way to do it?) I could move them to the cooler if you think that's better. In my case I only have 4 fans now, will have 5 in a couple of days so I have room to run everything off 1 CoPro and 1 RGB hub. I'm guessing it doesn't *really* matter too much which way I connect them up?

 

In trying to diagnose my lack of colour yesterday I did cold boot my PC. Didn't try just restarting the Corsair service, I went for a clean boot. And that definitely didn't restore anything. But given that it seemed to have lost its definition of what was there its probably not surprising really.